[ANALYSIS] Number of jobless Pinoy seafarers to rise over faulty labor dispute process

'Foreign employers are now increasingly bypassing Filipino seafarers. Unless this trend is reversed, unemployment among seafarers will rise and remittances from them will fall...' Opinion ThoughtLeaders

The Philippines is known as the world’s top supplier of seafarers, and over the years, foreign employers tended to favor Filipino seafarers over those from other nations. As a result, Filipino seafarers working overseas have helped boost the Philippine economy by becoming a major source of foreign exchange remittances.

But foreign employers have been losing hefty sums of money over labor disputes with Filipino seafarers. The Association of Licensed Manning Agencies Maritime Group, an umbrella organization of more than 50 crewing agencies deploying Filipino seafarers, has revealed that from 2018 to 2022, foreign employers of Filipino seafarers had to pay a whopping P2.57 billion in monetary claims granted by labor courts to the seafarers even after these were later reversed by the appellate courts.

, the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court – collectively called the appellate courts – may review and, if necessary, reverse the labor courts’ rulings on seafarers’ complaints. This can take place after the filing of petitions for certiorari before the appellate courts. However, the labor courts’ rulings become final and executory after prescriptive periods lapse, regardless of the results of the petitions filed with the appellate courts.

Is there a way to nip this burgeoning problem in the bud? There is. Legislators are proposing the inclusion of an escrow provision in House Bill 7325, the Magna Carta of Filipino Seafarers, which the House of Representatives passed upon third and final reading last March 6. This bill aims to protect the rights of seafarers before, during, and after deployment, and develop a pool of competent and world-class seafarers through a system of education, training, and licensing.

Equal protection – in concrete terms – means that, first, a substantial distinction must exist between 1) domestic or foreign land-based Filipino laborers and 2) Filipino seafarers who are contractually employed aboard foreign vessels by foreign principals, paid in foreign currency, and covered by international protection and indemnity insurance; second, the provision for escrow applies only to disputed monetary awards; third, this provision will apply to all seafarers in similar situations;...

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